FLINT, MI – Residents looking forward to drinking from the Flint River in the city today will have to stay thirsty for at least a couple more days.

There’s still construction work going on at the disinfectant system at the water treatment plant, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

That means the city won't begin using the Flint River as the primary drinking source exclusively today, April 21, as originally planned.

“The work just wasn’t completed when we were out there on Friday,” said Steve Busch, Lansing and Jackson district supervisor in the DEQ’s office of drinking water and municipal assistance. “The process of starting up the water treatment plant takes several days to get started. It’s going to be a couple of more days to get all the processes up and running.”

Busch said the city will invite the DEQ back out once the work is complete for final approval.

Monday was supposed to be a historic day for Flint – the day that the city finally ended its dependence on Detroit for water.

Utilities Director Daughtery Johnson previously said the work being done at the plant over the last nine months usually takes two years.

“The water that they receive from the river is disinfected similar to what it would be from Detroit,” Busch said.

The city will use the Flint River for water while the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline is built. The KWA pipeline will pipe raw Lake Huron water to Genesee County and is expected to be complete sometime in 2016.

City officials could not be reached for comment Monday morning on the delay.